The weekends in April and May are filling up fast with family events, but I was able to find some time for quilting. Last weekend the machine quilting on Ruby in the Sky – a quilt top made in 2011 – was completed and the binding sewn on. All that is left is the handwork and I am hoping for a Friday finish for this quilt. On April 15th I went to the Degas exhibit at the Denver Art Museum along with my brother and middle daughter. What a great experience! On display were numerous sketches & sculptures before showing his final painting. It inspires me to continue to stretch myself as a quilter.

I also tackled the issues with the Double Wedding Ring – namely no fabric or template for the cornerstones. A partial solution involved a trip to the quilt store since there is no 30s fabric in my stash. That isn’t a style of fabric that appeals to me and it was very difficult to make a decision. I really should have known better, but I only bought one piece of fabric for the cornerstones. Once I was home however, I realized that I should have bought two. There was a piece of darker gray lavender in my stash, so I started cutting into that.

But after getting a few of the melon shapes together it is very evident that this will not work. After work on Monday I stopped at the quilt store – again – and came home with a pink 30s print to use for the other cornerstone.

Doesn’t that look a lot better? The rings are not sewn together yet – the parts are just lying on the floor so that I could get an idea of size. It may be hard to see in the picture, but from outside edge to outside edge it measures 26″. The wedges in the arc are 3 1/2″ tall which seem larger than usual. I have decided on a 3 x 3 layout which I am hoping will be in the 65 – 70″ square range.

I am making all the melon shapes first and then will sew all the units together.

Next up will be putting a round peg in a square box. I am not a big fan of scallops, so I want to do something different. Some of the DWR quilts that I have seen with straight sides are appliqued on a wide border – I don’t want to do applique. So what I plan to do is make a border template using the middle background piece to fill in the gap between the rings and give the quilt straight edges. I will let you know how that goes.

I want to start documenting my reasons for the quilts that I decide to sew. The Double Wedding Ring has two main reasons:

1. This is a great way for me to learn how to assemble a DWR quilt without the pressure of fabric that I absolutely love and with part of the piecing already done. There has been a steep learning curve and I am sure that there will be more lessons in my future, but I wouldn’t hesitate to tackle another DWR.

2. I like the idea of Nettie’s UFO finally being finished. Of course I have enough of my own UFOs, but there is something gratifying about completing someone else’s.

One Response to “Design Wall Monday 04-23-18”

Good progress! I too, find it is extremely satisfying to finish someone else’s work. I think of the original quilter smiling down at me from heaven. Thanks for linking with Design Wall Monday, I appreciate you. Judy